Tag Archives: #GilletteStadium

Matt Light Inducted To The Patriots HOF

Leave a reply

Matt Light Is A Patriots HOF Legend

Matt Light was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame on Saturday. He was a key player in New England’s offense for 11 seasons. Matt Light was a cornerstone of the offensive line and was as reliable as they come. Here is Robert Kraft presenting the left tackle with his HOF jacket on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/boston_sports18/status/1046562898842198018?s=21

A Look at Patriots HOF Player Matt Light Through The Years

The Patriots took Matt Light in the second round (48th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft. Light made an immediate impact at left tackle, creating holes for the run game his rookie year. He started at left tackle in 12 of 14 games. Light was named to the 2001 NFL All-Rookie Team.

Matt and his offensive line dominated all year in the run game, especially Super Bowl XXXVI with a Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams. New England’s offensive line was key as the Patriots rushed for 133 yards on 25 carries a (5.3 avg.) in the 20-17 win.

Bill Belichick says availability is just as important as ability. Matt Light was blessed with both. Light with the exception of his rookie year, 2005 and 2009 played every game of his career. He is as tough as any player I’ve ever watched.

Another Super Bowl victory came in his third year. Matt Light as the main piece of the offensive line. Matt and his teammates didn’t allow a sack in two playoff games. Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Panthers. No sacks.

2004 nothing had changed, Matt Light played every game. He and the offensive line helped Corey Dillon and the running backs average 4.1 yards per carry, which was the most since 1985. When the playoffs came around again, Light and the offensive line created lanes allowing Patriots rushers to average 5.4 yards in the Divisional Round. Light and the Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years, and the offensive line was a big factor in the 24-21 victory over the Eagles.

Matt Light Was A Special Player

Matt Lights first four seasons were incredible, going up against the best the NFL had to offer. He never stopped working. In 2006, he was named to his first Pro Bowl. Matt followed that up with a 2007 season for the ages. He and the offensive line allowed only 21 sacks, the fewest in 30 years. As the left tackle, Matt’s job was to protect Tom Brady. He did, and did it well, as the offense broke records for points scored and TD passes.

Patriots HOF LT Matt Light

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Matt Light was a mainstay in the Patriots offensive line, he took on the great defenders of the game. He was named to his second Pro Bowl, and first-team All-Pro. Matt had his sights set on history instead. Light and the offensive line did its part. New England entered the Super Bowl with an 18-0 record but just fell short of a perfect season.

Matt Light would have his chance in 2011, as New England faced off against the Giants in a Super Bowl rematch. He played well in the big game, only allowing two QB pressures and no sacks. Despite his excellent play, the Pats came up short once again. That would be Matt Light’s final game, and he did his job.

Matt Light is the only player in NFL history to begin and end a career in the Super Bowl.

Matt Light Was A Prankster

As the newest member of the Patriots HOF, Matt was very humbled, as he reminisced about his playing days.

He also spoke about the great times off the field, Matt likes pranks, and Bill Belichick wasn’t even safe. He switched Bill’s computer mouse with a fake one that produces a small shock. As he told the story, he laughed and said his wife thought he was going to get fired. Matt continued on about how Bill got shocked by the fake mouse and was not happy. At that time it was alright, nobody knew anything, including Bill. For some reason Belichick decided to use the mouse again, once more he was shocked. Only this time he hit the keyboard to the computer and erased very important documents and gameplans. As Matt laughed on stage, he said that it wasn’t his fault that Bill touched the electrocuting mouse for the second time. In the end, the offensive line had to run sprints all day because of his prank.

Matt would do anything for the Patriots. He also had a funny, laid-back side to him I want you to see right here. Matt Light’s song “Mustache Men.”

https://twitter.com/boston_sports18/status/1046780444933582848?s=21

Before Matt Light and friends went to celebrate, he took some time to answer some questions.

https://twitter.com/boston_sports18/status/1046787401262206976?s=21

https://twitter.com/boston_sports18/status/1046796064249053189?s=21

What a great career, and person. New England will always love Matt Light.

Gronk spikes trade deal – No Brady, No Dice

Leave a reply

TRADE TALK BEFORE THE 2018 DRAFT

Rob Gronkowski was almost traded to the Detroit Lions during the offseason, leading up to the Draft. After Sunday’s loss to Detroit, Rob Gronkowski was asked about all the rumblings of the trade. Gronk casually answered saying, “Yeah it happened, Tom Brady’s my quarterback, that’s all. Wasn’t going anywhere without Brady.”

Gronk and Brady

Staff photo by John Wilcox.

Before the 2018 NFL Draft, Bill Belichick was looking to deal Rob Gronkowski. Rumors of talks with the Lions and Titans were being thrown around. Bill was talking with his ex Patriot friends in an attempt to move the All World tight end. Adam Schefter went on WEEI’s morning show ‘Kirk and Callahan’ Monday for an interview about the situation. According to Schefter “It would’ve been a trade involving draft picks, that was the basic trade.” He continued on about Gronkowski, “He was the only player involved in the trade and it would’ve been a combination of picks.”

HOW GRONKOWSKI NIXED THE TRADE

During the offseason Rob Gronkowski was uncertain about things, he made that clear minutes after the Super Bowl. Since Gronk showed signs of uncertainty, Bill had to keep thinking about the team and its future. Bill has never been one to wait and see about a player, he makes the necessary moves for the team. Apparently, he did and the trade was pretty much done until Gronkowski caught wind of the situation. Schefter again noted, “Basically the deal was all but agreed to, he was going to go to Detroit, and when he found out he called the Patriots.”

Now, this is coming from an NFL insider, not the Patriots or Rob Gronkowski, yet it does seem to line up with the offseasons timeline of events. Gronk and the Patriots did have a meeting before the draft, which was newsworthy because it ended the trade speculation. As Rob Gronkowski said Sunday night, he wasn’t going anywhere without Tom Brady. So what was said during the meeting is unknown to the public, but the end result is clear. New England was the only team Rob Gronkowski would play for, it did not matter if it was the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles. If Brady wasn’t throwing him the ball, he was ready to retire.

Gronkowski

Via USA Today

NO TRADE WITH A HAPPY ENDING

For Patriot fans, the meeting between the Patriots and Gronkowski’s camp, right before the draft worked out. Rob was adamant about what he wanted, which led to Bill Belichick and the Pats agreeing to keep the tight end. I’m sure Bill had his own demands for Gronkowski as well, in the end, it all worked out.

Rob Gronkowski wasn’t traded, his deal was reworked with incentives again. If he reaches those incentives he will receive $4.3 million this season. New England doesn’t have to worry about the cap hit because of Gronkowski’s new deal, it barely changes. So, in the end, both sides seem to have benefited from that meeting before the draft. For fans of the Patriots, everything turned out great. If it wasn’t for Gronk calling the team to have a meeting, a lot of things in New England could’ve changed not just the TE. Luckily this is in the past, everyone has one goal in 2018 and that’s bringing home the Lombardi.

FLASHback to 2007’s Offense

Leave a reply

COMPARING THE 2007 SEASON TO THIS YEARS TEAM OFFENSIVELY

In 2007, New England was a juggernaut on offense. As far as regular seasons go, well, the Patriots went undefeated. Of course, this season won’t be perfect, the offense could look quite familiar. Josh Gordon recently picked up by New England, has many fans very excited. First and foremost, he is not Randy Moss 2.0. I want to make that clear.

However, if Gordon can fall in line, keep his nose in the playbook and contribute all season, then we could be in for quite the show. The comparisons this year to the undefeated regular season are fair, hear me out.

Let’s compare Offenses

(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

DIFFERENT NAMES – SAME GAME

New England’s offense in 2007 was unstoppable, mainly because of Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Other key players had their roles as well, only one player remains – Tom Brady. 2007 will go down as one of the best complete football teams of all time, if not the best. Here is what the offense looked like.

Starting off is Tom Brady, who has seemed to have gotten better with age. As he admits himself, “I feel like I’ve played better the last eight years then I did my first ten.”

Next, let’s look at the running game. Laurence Maroney handled the heavy workload. Patriots HOF’er Kevin Faulk and Sammy Morris as the 3rd down change of pace backs. Heath Evans was the fullback.

Jumping ahead to this season, SB hero James White, Rex Burkhead, and rookie Sony Michel can all either be RBs or receivers in the slot or split out wide. In today’s NFL, I’d give the slight edge to this season’s RB core, as moving the ball through the air is more important than ever. Defenses can’t tell whether it’s a run or pass play when any of these players step on the field. Also, James Devlin is used at FB to open up running lanes and catch the ball as well.

SB hero James White

Photo Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

PASS CATCHING COMPARISONS

Randy Moss is in the HOF, Josh Gordon is not Randy Moss. However, if Gordon is the best version of himself, he will fill the Moss role, which is taking the top off the defense with his size and speed. Brady hasn’t had this since Randy Moss, with the obvious edge going to Moss, with one caveat – the rest of the pass catchers overall compared to this year.

With Gordon attempting to do his best Moss impersonation, Brady now has a real deep threat. His targets also include Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, and Philip Dorsett with special teams ace, Corderelle Patterson, being involved in some packages each game.

Josh Gordon opening up the field for these receivers will not allow defenses to double. If they do, Brady will find one of the open players. Looking at this year’s pass catchers and 2007 receivers, it’s the same concept with similarly skilled players except for Moss. Now, 2018 now has a beast like him plus Rob Gronkowski. That alone is scary for opponents.

JE11 in the slot

Edelman will be back in the slot, with Gordon opening up the field. Just like Welker did in 2007

Patriots offensively in 2007, besides Randy, had an aging local legend in Troy Brown, another Patriot HOF player, along with Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth, and Jabar Gaffney. They didn’t have a huge part of this comparison in Rob Gronkowski. Ben Watson was good along with Brady, but it’s not close to Gronk alone.  2018 also adds Hollister in the mix. So, can this year’s team look anything like the 2007 Patriots?

IN CONCLUSION, WHERE DOES THIS SEASON’S OFFENSE STACK UP?

Going through it by positions was interesting, and all these comparisons depend on one player, who’s never been dependable. In the event Josh Gordon does click with Tom Brady, this year’s Patriots team will do some serious damage. As I see it, this years RB group can be better than 2007.

Pass catchers; if everything goes to plan, will put up eye-popping numbers. Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon and Chris Hogan with the RBs will keep defenses up at night.

No, this season won’t be as prolific as the undefeated team but will have a similar feeling to it. As always, health will play a factor as well of the offensive line.

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are still here, with players comparable or better to the 2007 team. Still, it’s too early to tell what will happen next.

No Tom Brady led offense will ever be as good, but this year is the closest it will get. Imagine all of this coming after the recent WR drama throughout the last few months.

Rob Gronkowski Feeling 100 Times better than last year

Leave a reply

Last offseason Rob Gronkowski found himself at a cross-road. Another last second Super Bowl Hail Mary, another incompletion. The word retirement came up post game to shock Patriot nation. Gronkowski was weighing his options. Understandable after a loss like that.

He says he feels 100 times better this year. Gronk had a monster season in 2017, tallying 69 receptions totaling 1,084 yards and 8 TD’s. We may see the best year he’s had as a Patriot.

Photo by Associated press/Fulton Sun.

GRONKOWSKI FEELING IT IN 2018

The All World TE spoke recently about the difference between last year and 2018. Which by Patriots standards is out of the norm. Bill Belichick has the team accustomed to forgetting about the past, but this relates more to Gronkowski’s mindset, not a game.

Since returning to camp he seems to be very clear-headed and engaged. Especially compared to where his mind was at this time last year.

”I just love playing the game” Gronk says, “I feel good right now. I definitely feel like 100 times better than I did last year during training camp” Gronk continues unlike a usual Patriots press conference. “When you’re feeling good, you love playing the game. I felt good enough to where I thought I could come back, go through the whole season, go throughout the camp and just keep playing the game and be enjoying it. That’s how it’s been and when you’re enjoying the game, and feeling good, you just love playing the game. It’s just something when you’re out on the field, like your mind is just in another place because you’re just focusing on what you got to do”

ROB GRONKOWSKI STILL LEARNING

During a recent interview Rob Gronkowski says he is learning as the seasons pass, and his football IQ is already very high. Learning how to be better coupled with “feeling 100 times better than last year” may lead some to suspect this might be Gronk’s greatest season yet.

Stretching

Staff photo by John Wilcox.

Gronk talked about keeping his body in shape, now that he’s older he is doing things much differently. He continues his response.

“Like I said, I just try to focus on my body every single day like after practice now and just try to get better every day and get the recovery going ASAP, right after the meetings and stuff so you feel good the next day.” “There’s times I remember when I was back rookie year, second year, you would just practice, go to meetings and you would do absolutely nothing“

Gronkowski is focused on staying healthy, and feeling 100 times better than last year. He’s going to have to keep that mindset as he will be the focal point of this team’s passing attack moving forward.

Revolution Seeking Road Redemption

Leave a reply

Embed from Getty Images

After a roller-coaster season that will end Sunday without playoff berth, the New England Revolution hope to close out the 2017 campaign by doing something they haven’t done all year– win on the road. The Revs, winners of a club record 12 home matches this season, found each visiting venue to be a house of horrors. With a victory on Sunday, however, the team could finally lift a weight off their shoulders heading into the 2018 season.

As it stands, the Revolution have a league worst 0-13-3 record away from Gillette Stadium. It’s an embarrassing feat for a soccer club full of pride. Never in the team’s 22-season existence have they gone without a victory on the road. They know that Sunday’s match, regardless of having zero playoff implications, is vital in sustaining momentum heading into next season.

Players Speak

Forward Teal Bunbury, fourth on the team with 7 goals this year, stressed the importance of Sunday’s clash with the Montreal Impact after yesterday’s practice. “It’s got to be huge for all of us. We pride ourselves on winning games and being professionals and we need to go on an away trip and be able to get three points. It’s something we should’ve already done.”

Chris Tierney, longest tenured member of the Revolution, also spoke following the uptempo practice. “There’s plenty to play for. You want to finish as high as you can and any time you put the jersey on, you want to put in a good performance individually and collectively for the club.”

While a full season without a road victory would be disastrous in itself, it’s the way in which the team lost away from Gillette that’s truly shocking. More often than not, the Revs found themselves outplayed, out-manned, and out-coached away from the Razor. Frustration finally boiled over during a string of three consecutive road loses in September.

September Trainwreck

On September 13, the Revs found themselves out-manned, and subsequently, man-handled by the Atlanta United FC. In a night everything went astray, the Revs were forced to play with nine players by the end of the first half. By the 38th minute,  Xavier Kouassi and Antonio Delamea had both been ejected from the contest for committing hard fouls. Atlanta would tack on five goals following the ouster of the Revs competitors to blow out New England 7-0.

Following the trainwreck in Atlanta, things didn’t improve for the Revs three days later in Kansas City. That’s not to say things started poorly. In fact, the Revs took it to KC early with Teal Bunbury scoring just 4 minutes into the affair. However, the good times would not keep on rolling. In the 11th minute of the match, the Revolution’s Krisztian Nemeth was shown the red card for violent conduct. With 10 players on the pitch and Kouassi and Delamea serving their suspensions, the Revs would surrender three consecutive goals. They’d go on to lose 3-1.

After two cringe-worthy performances on the road, the New England Revolution relieved head coach Jay Heaps of his duties. With the playoffs still a mathematical possibility, the organization hoped the switch would light a fire in the squad. The effects of the change proved unsustainable as the Revs would be obliterated in Orlando 11 days later. During the one-sided contest, New England yet again found themselves undermanned as Kouassi earned another red card and ejection. The Revolution would go on to lose by a final of 6-1.

In a span of 3 road games, opponents had outscored the Revolution by a 16-2 margin. With those back-to-back-to-back crushing blows, hope of a playoff berth went by the wayside.

The Revolution’s Road Ahead 

The Revolution will undergo many changes this offseason. Without question, the biggest decision looming over the organization than the selection of a new head coach. The Revs will interview numerous possible candidates, including the club’s current interim coach, Tom Soehn.

Following Heaps’s firing, General Manager Michael Burns affirmed the club will conduct an extensive search for a new head coach. With a fan base growing impatient, Burns knows the organization’s next pick has to be right on the money.

Embed from Getty Images

“We’re not going to make any rash decisions, but we want to begin the process now in searching for that candidate. There’s no timetable that we’ve set on hiring a candidate. We want to make sure that we do our due diligence and make a smart hire, Burns said back in September.

“It would be important for the next head coach to be able to get in here as soon as possible to be involved in player personnel decisions, roster construction and all the things that go into drafts and protected lists for expansion.”

Finding prospective candidates for the position does not seem to be an issue as Burns had previously mentioned to members of the media that “there’s a lot more interest and intrigue internationally than there was even six years ago, from a coaching standpoint and from a player standpoint.”

Ending on a High Note

While the New England Revolution’s 2017 campaign failed to live up to expectations, there’s belief across the organization and fan base that they’re on to bigger and better things. Led by stars Diego Fagundez, Lee Nguyen, and Kei Kamara, the future of the Revs certainly has potential. However, fans will want to witness the scrappy squad they’d once been accustomed to seeing each and every match.

A season-ending victory this Sunday would be a great start.